"I might need to get a card too…Do you think that she'll like this one?"

Infernape looked at the card Ivan was holding curiously, shrugging slightly. "In-fer…"

"Come on! Help me out here!" Ivan urged. "Dad'll never let me hear the end of it if I botch my gift this year."

"Ape-ape!"

Ivan rolled his eyes, putting the card back. "Maybe I'll just skip the card this time. Mom seemed to like last-year's letter more anyway." The pokemon nodded in seeming approval, and they both proceeded through the isle.

Alright, Ivan, what would mom want for her birthday? He pondered. "Goodness, I really am bad with gifts. You know, Infernape, I'm in a bit of a pickle."

"Fer?"

"The thing is, I'd like to make it a surprise, you know? To do that, I need to not tell her about it, but of course, if I don't ask her what she wants, then I have no idea what to get…so I can either ask her what she wants, and ruin the surprise, or-" Ivan paused as he glanced at his pokemon, which looked at him intently, but with visible confusion. "You don't understand me, do you?"

The pokemon shook its head.

"Fair enough, I'll keep my complaints to myself." he continued. "Wait, hold the phone!" Ivan exclaimed, walking down one of the isles. The shelves on both sides were stacked with a variety of pots, pans, and other kitchen appliances. "This might be what I'm looking for. Do they have…Yes they do."

Ivan made his way towards the section of the shelves where several pairs of oven mitts were hanging loosely on cheap hooks. Ivan scanned each of the designs, smiling after a moment. "Hey! Take a look at this!" he said, pulling a singular, blue pair of mitts off a hook. The mitts were patterned with a mixture of dark and light blue diamonds, with insignias of dark blue snowflakes on the majority of lighter diamonds. On each mitt was written 'For the COOLEST cook'. Ivan smiled even wider. "Oh, we're totally getting this, and it's a good thing too, it looks like this was the last one."

"In-In?"

"These are oven mitts." Ivan explained. "I don't cook very often, but if someone wants to pick up a pot that's been on the fire for a while, they can use this and they won't get burned."

"In-fer!"

"Yeah, it is cool. In fact, it says right here that this can withstand super-hot temperatures!" He suddenly smiled. "You know what, let's test that.

The pokemon looked at him curiously, grunting as it tilted its head.

"Try using Flamethrower, you'll see." Ivan said, holding the mitts in one direction while stepping towards the other. "Go on!"

The pokemon took a sharp breath in and breathed fire towards the mitts. Ivan looked away as the fire passed through the mitts. When the fire died down, he turned to see that the mitts had turned a charcoal black, and small flames began creeping towards his hand.

"AH!" he yelled, dropping the mitts. As he turned to stomp on the mitts to put the fire out, he noticed that several kitchen hand towels were now ablaze on the shelves. Another couple of customers turned to see the fire, gasping in horror, and running away. Ivan looked helplessly at the flames. "Crap, this could not get any-"

Suddenly, the sprinkler system above them began pouring water throughout the store. Ivan and Infernape winced as they became instantly soaked. The fire in front of them began to die down with the water. Ivan sighed. "I stand corrected."

"AND STAY OUT!" the angry shopkeeper yelled, slamming the door to the shop.

Ivan stood indignantly in the middle of the street. He grumbled, glancing at Infernape. "You just had to use Flamethrower at full force, didn't you?!"

"In-fer! In-fer-nape!" it shouted defensively.

"Don't give me any of that! It wasn't my fault that the mitts couldn't handle it!" He sighed again. "Whatever, let's just get food and go home. I'm done with today, and it looks like it might rain soon."

The pokemon nodded in agreement. They both began walking down the road, when they heard a loud clang in the alley next to them. When they turned, they could barely see a silhouette move out of sight. Infernape looked up at its trainer.

"You saw that too, right?" Ivan muttered. "You think it was a pokemon?"

"In-In"

"Something doesn't feel quite right. Come with me." Ivan ordered. They both began walking down the alleyway, careful not to make any noise as they did so. The setting sun had descended beyond Mt. Coronet, leaving only a few patches of pinkish-orange sky to peek through the clouds. As they walked, the buildings' shadows on both sides dimmed out the already fading light, causing the illumination from Infernape's head to grow all the more bright. They reached the back wall, peeking around the edge towards where they saw the silhouette.

Ivan looked to see a large man cornering someone against the wall. This assailant had a pokemon next to him, but the darkening sky made it difficult to identify both the pokemon and the victim. He squinted trying to make out what was going on, seeing that the man was pulling on something.

"Give it here, now!" the assaulting man shouted.

"No!" another voice yelled, clearly a younger girl. "HEL-"

The man used his other hand to cover the girl's mouth. "If you scream again, you'll regret it! Give me the bag, NOW!" Suddenly, the man pulled his hand away, yelping in pain. "You little piece of Muk!" He raised his arm, slamming down hard on the girl. She cried out as the impact knocked her to the ground.

"Ga-Gabite!" the man's pokemon growled.

"Give it back!" the girl yelled.

"What do you mean, I won the battle didn't I?" the man jeered.

"No! You jumped out and attacked me!"

"Yeah, and I won." the man retorted. "Tell you what though, I'm in a generous mood. What do you say we go back to my place and sort this out like civilized people."

"Counter-offer!" Ivan interrupted, stepping out from around the corner. "How about you give the girl her bag back and we can all get Officer Jenny to sort this out."

The man quickly turned around, looking over Ivan. "Beat it, kid, this doesn't concern you."

"Sorry, can't do that," Ivan replied. "You can though, I mean, the coward's way out seems more your speed."

"What?!"

"Picking on a girl in a back alley, all by herself, I mean, come on! That's kind of pathetic, don't you think?" Ivan continued.

"You wanna run that by me again?!" the thug threatened.

"What, you didn't like that?" Ivan asked. "If you want, I can mock your appearance instead. I've got a lot to work with on that front too."

"You're gonna regret that!" the man said, marching forward.

"Hey! Keep your distance, six feet apart at least! I don't want to catch your stupid!"

"Gabite! Use Slash!"

"Infernape, counter with Power-Up Punch!" Ivan ordered. Both pokemon lunged at each other, making contact about halfway between each trainer. Gabite's attack knocked Infernape backward, the latter quickly regaining its footing. "You good? Alright, use Power-Up Punch again!"

"Use Bite!" The man ordered. Both pokemon lept at each other again. Infernape deftly timed its attack to avoid Gabite's jaws, opting instead to slam its fist into the side of its head. The Gabite recoiled several steps to the side, almost falling down. "What are you doing?!" the man yelled.

"Use Close Combat!" Ivan called. Infernape launched itself forward, slamming several strong punches, kicks, and strikes against Gabite. The dragon fell to the ground, groaning loudly.

The man growled loudly, pulling out his pokeball. "I don't need this!" he shouted, returning his pokemon. He then dashed forward, throwing the purse to the side, and shoving Ivan away as he did so. "You'll regret this!"

Ivan regained his footing, dusting himself off. "Yeah, yeah." he mumbled sarcastically. He turned face to his pokemon. "Good job Infernape."

"In-fer!"

He then walked hurriedly to the girl, who was frantically feeling the ground around her. "Are you alright?"

"I can't find them!"

"Your what?"

"My glasses!"

Ivan stood back up. "Ah, gotcha. Did he take them from you?"

"No, at least, I don't think so," she mumbled. "It's really hard for me to see without them, especially at night."

"No worries, I'll help you look," he replied. He took a step back. "I'm sure they're-" Suddenly, Ivan felt a small crunch under his shoe. He winced slightly at the sound, lifting his shoe to see what he stepped on.

"What was that?!" the girl asked urgently.

"Um…You want the good news or the bad news?"

She sighed. "Perfect. My mom's going to kill me."

"I'm so sorry!" Ivan reached down to pick up the remains of the glasses.

"It's fine, this is all my fault anyway," she replied, trying to make her way to her feet. "If I had been more careful, none of this would've happened."

"You can't blame yourself for that." Ivan countered. "You were the victim here, this wasn't your fault."

"I'm sorry, thank you for saving me," she said meekly. "I'll just grab my bag, and…Oh…" She began feeling around the ground, trying to locate the fallen accessory.

"Oh, he threw it over there," Ivan said, jogging towards the fallen bag. The darkening evening loomed strongly over the alleyway, augmented by the even darker clouds forming above them. Ivan picked up the bag and hurriedly made his way back to the girl. "Here you go!"

"Thanks!" she reached out for the bag, missing it by a substantial margin. Ivan closed the gap between her hand and the bag. "Sorry, thanks."

"Hey, you should let me come with you."

"What?"

"You're in no position to walk home by yourself, especially like this," Ivan commented. "I'll walk you home."

"I-" she started. "But-"

"No 'Buts'!" Ivan quieted her, reaching his hand forward. "Take my hand," he said. She hesitated for another moment, a look of uncertainty over her face. She then slowly reached her hand up. Ivan took hold of it gently, turning back to his pokemon. "Alright Infernape, lead us out."

The pokemon nodded in agreement, stepping back towards the alleyway. Ivan led the girl forward, using the light emanating from Infernape's head as a guide to where he should step.

"Alright, we're gonna turn a corner here. Step to the left so you don't bump into the wall."

"Okay."

They continued forward, the faint light from the street lamps acting as another guide marker. "We're almost back onto the main street."

"Is that the light from the lamps?"

"Yeah." Ivan responded.

"It almost seems darker than usual. Is it cloudy?"

Ivan's gaze was drawn upward as lightning struck above them, briefly lighting up the clouds. "Yeah, you could say that."

The echo of thunder began to rumble around them. The girl yelped slightly. "Is it about to rain?!"

Ivan felt a couple of droplets fall on his head and arm. "Yeah, but there's no way I'm gonna get soaked twice in one day. Come on!"

"Hey! Wait!" she yelled as Ivan began pulling her more rapidly. Infernape, Ivan, and the girl almost leapt out from the alleyway. Ivan glanced around the street hurriedly.

"Come on, come on." he mumbled. His eyes suddenly locked on a store across the street. The store itself looked closed, as did most of the shops on the street, but Ivan was particularly interested in the small canopy attached to the wall above a door. "Over there!" He quickly led the girl across the street, Infernape following closely behind. Droplets of water falling more quickly, and more heavily as they dashed. "We're gonna make it!"

They finally reached the other end of the street, ducking under the canopy as the rain began to fall even harder. Ivan sighed in relief, pulling out the pokeball for Infernape. "Infernape, return. No use having three of us stand out here in the rain."

"Where are we?"

Ivan turned to face her, and in the light, it was much easier to see what she looked like. She had a darker skin tone, with matching and curly dark hair. The thing that caught his attention the most was her bright auburn eyes. Besides that, she had modest features, wearing a plain black skirt with a heavier yellow and white striped top with long sleeves.

"I-" Ivan started. "Have no clue." He looked towards the door and building to see if he could find a sign. "Ah, our protection from the rain is brought to you by 'Hiker Bill's emporium: For all your spelunking needs'."

She laughed. "Hiker Bill's sign doesn't say that."

"Oh really?" Ivan responded smiling. "I must not have caught that."

"Either way, if we're at Hiker Bill's, then we're a long way away from my home. How does the rain look?"

"Kind of like Kyogre trying to flood Sinnoh once and for all." he said, looking up. "Looks like we'll be stuck here for a bit."

"My family's probably worried." the girl commented nervously. "My parents don't really like it when I stay out late."

"I get that." Ivan replied. "Sorry, I don't know your name-"

"Elizabeth," she answered. "Most people call me Lizzy."

"Lizzy, got it." he said. "I'm Ivan."

"Nice to meet you."

"Your family lives here in the city then?"

"Yeah, Hearthome is one of the safer cities in the region. At least, that's what I THOUGHT, until tonight. My family lives a little bit up the mountain though."

"Gotcha."

"What brings you out here?"

"I'm here to challenge the gym."

"Oh, so you're out to get the gym badges?"

"Yeah."

"I shouldn't be surprised. You seemed to dispose of that man rather quickly."

"Well, we've been doing pretty well for ourselves. We had a bit of a slow start, but my pokemon are doing rather well. We've been at this for a while."

"You don't sound much older than I am. How old are you?"

"Fifteen." he replied. "You?"

"Fourteen," she answered. "What pokemon do you have?"

"Infernape is the one I used tonight. I also have a Kirlia, Lucario, Hippopotas, and Rhydon."

"That's cool!"

"Yeah, the gym here might give me a bit of a hard time though. I hear that…oh, what's her name? Fantasma?"

"Fantina."

"Right, I totally said that." Ivan said, eliciting a small giggle from Lizzy. "She specializes in ghost types, I think," he continued. "It might take me a while to figure out how to deal with her."

"I see." she replied. "Well, I hope that goes really well for you."

"Well, same." he said. "Thanks."

"Of course. I've always wanted to be a trainer."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I probably will one day. It just, kinda, hasn't happened yet, you know?"

"What's stopping you?"

"Well-" she began. "That's kind of a long story…"

"I have time." he commented, leaning against the wall. "If you're down to talk."

"I-" She paused as a pair of headlights suddenly turned the corner. The black car that was approaching immediately came to a halt in front of them. The window on the driver's seat began dropping

"Miss Elizabeth! Is that you?" the driver asked.

"Frederick?"

The car pulled over, and a well dressed man stepped out of the driver's seat, making their way to the canopy. "What are you doing out here in the rain?"

"I-" she began. "That's a bit complicated, Frederick."

"Your face…what happened to you?!"

Ivan turned to look at Lizzy's face. The side of her that was facing him looked completely normal, but as she turned slightly, Ivan could make out a small bruise on her left cheek. I'm an idiot, I completely forgot about that!

"I was attacked." she stated.

"Who did this to you?" His eyes glanced up towards Ivan. "Who is this?" the driver asked, almost aggressively.

Ivan stood up from the wall. He was about to speak when Lizzy spoke up. "This is a…friend of mine, his name is Ivan. He's the one that rescued me."

"Is this true?" he asked.

"Yes sir." Ivan affirmed.

"You shouldn't be out this late with people that your parents don't know." the man warned sternly. "You know how they get."

"Yes, Frederick."

"Your parents are worried sick. They sent me to fetch you and bring you back immediately." he explained.

"Of course, Frederick."

"Young man," the driver suddenly said. "I believe what Miss Elizabeth has stated, and commend you for your bravery. Where are you staying?"

"I-" he stammered. "I'm staying at the pokemon center."

"Tell you what, if you'd like, you can ride with us so that you don't have to walk home in this ghastly rain."

"That's nice of you. I'd love a ride."

"Allow me to fetch the umbrella, miss." he said, turning back to the car. When his back was turned, Ivan turned to face Lizzy again.

"You have a butler?" he asked, surprised.

"That's technically not my butler, that's my driver."

"Ah, I see. You have no idea how much I wanted to respond to his 'this ghastly rain' comment with a joke."

She looked at him. "What would you have said?"

"Probably something stupid like 'Ghastly rain, as opposed to Gengar rain?' "

She rolled her eyes, a small smile on her face. "You must find yourself deeply funny."

"Why, Miss Elizabeth," he responded, altering his voice to sound more refined. "You have no idea just how funny I think I am."

She laughed again as Frederick returned with the umbrella. "Here we are, let's go."

"Thank you, Frederick."

They stepped into the car, and drove off.

Hello again! I hope that you enjoyed this episode, it was fun to write. Hopefully the next part of this chapter will be out soon, I should have a bit more free time now that we're in the summer. Who knows, I might finish this story in record time (I only plan for it to be about 40,000 words, but we'll see). As always, feel free to let me know your thoughts in the reviews. UnLeSs ThEy'Re NeGaTiVe, iF yOu DoN't LiKe mY sToRy ThEn DoN't ReAd!

(Was that sarcastic enough?)

That aside, I do like hearing from you guys. Feel free to tell me how I'm doing. How can I improve my writing if I don't hear what you guys think?

All in all, Happy Summer!

-Paladin